2014 WPT World Championship Day 1b: Jason Koon Leads with 200 Players Remaining
Action continued at the 2014 World Poker Tour World Championship on Tuesday with Day 1b from the Borgata Hotel Casino & Spa in Atlantic City. Another 223 players were added to the field, creating a total field size of 328 entrants when combined with the 105 entries from Day 1a.
As part of the lure of the WPT's Season XII finale, a big $5 million guarantee was slapped on the event's head. Unfortunately, 334 players were needed to meet the guarantee, creating an overlay for all players still remaining as they push forward to the money on Day 2.
Topping the field after Day 1b was Jason Koon with 252,800 in chips. He's trailed closely by Athanasios Polychronopoulos (223,100), Keith Lehr (220,700), and Lee Markholt (217,700), but will be the man to catch moving forward.
Another player to finish with a large stack was Abraham Korotki, who is coming off a victory worth $256,508 in the 2014 Borgata Spring Poker Open Championship. He finished on 172,300 in chips.
There were then numerous other notables that would survive to move on to Day 2 including the likes of Jesse Sylvia (137,500), Christina Lindley (127,600), James Carroll (122,000), Joe McKeehen (114,000), Sean Jazayeri (90,100), Jeff Madsen (59,800), John Hennigan (58,600), Dan Kelly (58,500), Nick Schulman (47,900), John Racener (42,900), and Allen Bari (39,700).
Unfortunately for others, any dreams and aspirations they had of becoming the WPT Championship winner would be dashed when they were eliminated before play concluded. Those names included Aaron Massey, Jonathan Jaffe, Kara Scott, Amanda Musumeci, Dan Smith, Eugene Katchalov, Scott Clements, Ryan Riess, Mike Matusow, and James Calderaro. Calderaro would receive an unusually cruel exit when the case king came on the river to give him top two pair against Allen Kessler's set.
With 200 players in all returning for Day 2, the march to the next WPT Championship victor is in full effect. Play will resume at 12 p.m. local time on Wednesday, and you can find all of the live coverage straight from the tournament floor over in the PokerNews Live Reporting section.
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